Helga couldn't believe that Arnold got paired with Ashley. Arnold was sad too, he wanted to be paired with Helga. He didn't have a problem with Ashley. She seemed like a very nice girl, almost like Lila. He sighed as he glanced at both Helga and Ashley.
Ashley hovered over his desk smiling. "Well Arnold, looks like we better start studying for that test."
He sighed again. "Right."
"We should get started right now. Let's start with the first problem." Ashley suggested.
"I'll get the books." Arnold said as he reached for his backpack and got the books.
Helga kept an eye on the both of them, especially that Ashley chick. She acted so sweet, kind, nice and caring, but really she was up to no good. Helga knew a fake when she saw one. Sure this girl was a great actress and could fool anyone but so could Helga. She acted like a tough girl who wanted to beat people up all the time and made Arnold believe that she really hated him, didn't she?
At least Helga was paired with Phoebe, she was one of the smartest girls in the whole school and has been her best friend since preschool. If there was one thing that could be worse than not being paired with Arnold, is if she got Lila as a partner. Arnold did have a major crush on her last semester. Since Phoebe was Helga's partner, there was no way Helga would fail the test and maybe Phoebe could help her improve on her grades.
Phoebe was so smart, that last year she got promoted to the sixth grade and she jumped at the opportunity of learning more challenging work. But she realized she wanted to go back to being a forth grader, cause things weren't as easy as she thought. The worst thing that happened is that these two sixth grade girls, Connie and Maria took advantage of her.
"Come on Pheebs, let's hit those books." She told her best friend.
"Helga, you have never been this anxious for a test. What's bothering you?"
"Nothing. I'm just relieved that I didn't get Lila as my partner." She kind of lied. It was half the truth, but she didn't want to tell her the real reason.
"Okay, I'll tell you what, during free period we could talk more about this, or maybe you could come over my house after school. My parents are going out on a dinner date so it would be a perfect, nice and quiet place to study." Phoebe explained.
Helga nodded. Her place wasn't exacally a study bin, her dad was always in the living room watching a wrestling match, full volume and her mother was always making a racket in the kitchen, But Phobee's place would be perfect.
"Great so around three thirty?" Phoebe asked.
"Three thirty." Helga agreed. They shoke hands.
Helga was happy when class was over. It was already time for lunch and Helga entered the cafeteria with Phoebe. Helga froze up when she saw Arnold having lunch with Ashley again. How it made Helga sick to the stomach when she saw Ashley twirling her beautiful, clean and bright blond hair as Arnold spoke to her about different lunches, kids who were friendly and kids who weren't, and what the sixth grade would be like, even though that was like a whole year away.
Phoebe knew that something was wrong. She wasn't oblivious like a lot of the others. She secretly knew that Helga had a crush on Arnold and that was one of the reasons she bullies and picks on him. She was hoping that one day she could have some 'girl talk' with Helga about it, but Helga had to be ready, Phoebe didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. These were normal feelings.
Arnold looked around the cafateria, hopping to catch a glimpse from Helga. He quickly turned his attention back on Ashley when she asked him what was wrong.
"Is everything all right Arnold?" She asked.
"Oh yeah. Everything's fine. I just had something on my mind that's all." He tried to sound casual, like it really wasn't a big deal.
"Like what? What did you have on your mind?" She asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.
Arnold couldn't hide nothing from this girl. She could read him his mind like a good book she got into. He sighed giving in. "It's just that I'm supposed to be meeting a friend after school, and I'm kind of nervous, that's all."
She smiled. "Who's the friend Arnold?"
He shrugged. There she went again, asking a millions of questions. He didn't want to give out any information to her, he's only known her for about two days. How would he know if he could trust her or not.
"I'm sorry Ashley." He tried his hardest to sound polite. "But um, that's kind of personal."
"Oh." She hid her disappointment. "That's okay Arnold. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Arnold was reliefed that she didn't get offended. After all he didn't have the answers to everything, and somethings were just too personal to share, right?
"I just want you to know one thing. Even though you barely know me, I'm a great friend to talk to and you can trust me with anything." She told him.
Arnold smiled. "Thanks."
He was having a really great time with Ashley, and as they were talking, they got to know more about each other and discovered that they had some things in common. He wanted some time for Helga, but maybe they could talk when he's walking her home.
After school, Arnold caught up to Helga who was searching for Phobee. "Hey."
"Oh hi, where's your partner at?" She asked.
"I told her that I needed some time to myself." He answered.
"That better be all football head."
"Look, I'm really sorry that we weren't paired together. Maybe we could go rollar skatting?"
"Can't. I'm studdying with Pheebs." She said.
"Oh. Well I'm pretty busy myself." He said.
At three thirty Helga was at Phoebe's house and they were studying in her bedroom.
"So before we get started, is there something that you would like to talk about?" Phoebe asked.
Helga shrugged. "Nah. Not really." She answered.
"You've been acting kind of strange ever since that new girl came. Why?"
Helga sighed. "I don't know, it's just-"
"Does it have anything to do with Arnold?" Phoebe asked before Helga could finish.
Helga was taken by surprise. "No! of course not!"
But when Phoebe failed to hide a smirk, Helga knew that Phoebe found out about her feelings for Arnold. "How long?" She asked. "How did you find out?"
"I can tell by the way you look at him when he's not paying attention."
"Okay, fine. You caught me. I have been in love with Arnold since preschool." She confessed.
"Why can't you tell him?"
"He already knows. We've been kind of going out since the beginning of August. There was this girl he met named Summer. He sort of fell for her, she didn't really like him though. She was just using him cause she wanted to win a sandcastle contest to get a guest appearance on Babe watch. Her plan backfired though, cause I found out the truth, I tried to warn Arnold but he wouldn't believe me. On the day of the contest I got him to listen in on a conversation she was having with her real boyfriend. We entered the contest together, won and got to be on Babe watch." Helga explained.
Phoebe listened as Helga told her the rest of the story.
"Summer came back for revenge and kidnapped Arnold. She made him dig a lot of holes in the hot sun, ten feet deep everyday. If he refused to do whatever she said, she threatened to kill everyone on the whole beach with poisonous snakes. I came to save him then I saw him and Summer kissing. At least that's what I thought was going on. She was the one who was kissing him cause she saw me coming and wanted me to think he was cheating. The next day I came to my senses and realized what was really going on. Summer and Sandy tried to drown Arnold in the ocean, and I saved him just in time. Summer and I tried to drown one another and I won. She nearly sank to the bottom of the ocean, she probably would have been dead if it weren't for Sandy."
"Well I'm glad everything turned out okay." Phobee said.
Meanwhile Arnold and Ashley were walking together. He was walking her home.
"Well it was nice studying together. Can't wait for tomorrow." Ashley told him.
She went inside the house and went over to the couch. "Are you feeling better yet sis?" She asked.
"I'd feel better if I could finally get my revenge on Arnold and Helga."
"Wait a minute why do you hate Helga so much?"
"Cause she foiled my plans. Encase you don't know. Her and Arnold are together, practically boyfriend and girlfriend."
Ashley's mouth dropped open with shock. "You're kidding me?!"
"Nope."
"I knew that something fishy was going on. I hated that Helga girl from the start!" Ashley said. "Arnold is going to dump Helga and be my boyfriend instead, whether he wants to or not."
